What is the RIGHT form of activism?

This piece originally appeared at Womanist Musings where Renee has very generously allowed my random musings to appear on her excellent blog

I have been looking at various brouhahas about activism lately, especially in the LGBT community. In particular, I’ve been looking at a lot of arguments.

And part of me is happy about that, I have to make that clear now. One of the things I love love love love about LGBT activism and the LGBT community is there is never any idea that we should all be reading off one page. There are few, if any, grand leaders of the movement and we don’t put many people on pedestals. And when you gather us together you either have the best party ever or the biggest argument ever. Maybe even both. And I like that, I like that we’re not all reading off the same page, I like that there’s a variety of opinions and I like that individuality is still a mainstay of us.

But, I digress – on activism itself. I am seeing a lot of arguing as to what is good activism and what isn’t. What people should be doing. What people aren’t doing. Why X form of activism is better than Y. And here I have to add my own disagreement.

I don’t think any FORM of activism is wrong.

I think screaming in fury, waving angry signs and jumping up and down is great activism – it shows you’re passionate, it shows that you are angry, it shows that there is something real and tangible and awful to fix.

I think civil disobedience, chaining yourself to fences, holding sit ins, are all powerful activism. It’s brave, it’s courageous, it shows how determined people are to see this change, again it shows how important it is. It draws attention, it creates visibility, it highlights injustice.

I think spreading the stories of pain is effective activism. Showing everyone the real people who are hurt by discrimination and hatred, remembering the names of the fallen, reporting the hate incidents, putting faces to the numbers and making it clear that the problem is still there are vital to prevent them being dismissed.

I think objectively listing discriminatory laws and policies, of compiling statistics of people fired, of lives lost, of the large scale numbers the problem brings in a calm, clinical manner is effective activism. It presents the issues and the scale of them in an accessible format.

I think marching and demonstrating are a great form of activism. It shows energy, it shows numbers, it shows dedication. It connects you to more people in your cause and increases morale and energy – as well as drawing attention

I think pride parades are a great form of activism. It helps the isolated connect, reinforces the messages of exposure and attention. It sticks two fingers up at the closet and asserts loudly and proudly that we exist and have every right to do so. That we’re proud to do so.

I think blogging is effective activism. It spreads the word quickly, to a huge audience and establishes relationships between activists across the globe. It draws attention to stories missed by the mainstream press, it engages people, it brings new insight and opinions to people who were unaware or didn’t think on those terms.

I think tweeting is effective activism. I think a tweet can span the world in an instant and have a thousand furious people informed, engaged and responding. From Southwest Airlines to Jan Moir, we have seen the power of social networking.

I think mass mailing elected representatives is effective, especially if each letter is personalised. Ultimately, even the most corrupt and bought politician is elected and has to at least give a nod to his constituents. If enough weigh in on an issue, then that issue becomes important. You may even find one that cares *ducks flying pig*

I even think professional activist and lobbyist organisations – that come under a lot of criticism – are effective activism. I think they establish relationships with legislators, they become groups that they have to acknowledge, even if they ignore them. They become groups that politicians even have to court and make at least some gestures towards (hollow as they may be at times), they have an in.

I think all of this activism is effective, powerful and to be encouraged. I don’t think any of them is doing activism wrong. But I think it’s possible to do them wrong.

I think that the shouting in anger can often devolve into incoherent rage.

I think meticulously enumerating the facts can seem emotionless and unimportant, ivory tower philosophy rather than real lives and real people.

I think sharing stories of the tragedies can become maudlin and unproductive – especially if we focus on the bad without any considerations for how to make them better or move forwards.

I think Pride Parades can become heavily commercialised and become more about the show and the display than about the message and the community.

I think the professional lobbyists become more concerned with the august circles they move in, their profiles, their profits and the celebrities they get to rub shoulders with rather than the cause itself. I also think it’s very easy for these high profile lobbyists to lose connection with both the cause and the people they’re fighting for.

Yes, they can be done wrong – gods yes they can be done wrong. And we certainly need to speak up when it is. In fact, I think we have been a lot less critical of the lobbyists than they deserve (to pick one set of failings among many) -  but that doesn’t mean that that form of activism is wrong. And that we have to be careful with. There is no one true way – all are effective within their own sphere. But again and again I am seeing people say “we need this activism, not that kind” or that “X is ineffective” or deriding, say, internet activists for their online work, or mocking the civil disobedient for media hounding or sniping at the angry for “putting people off.”

I don’t see this as productive – I also don’t see it as practical, apart from anything else, there are some forms of activism certain people simply can’t do. They don’t have the money, they don’t have the time, they can’t reach that march and if they could they aren’t physical able of walking it. They fear the repercussions of it, they have a lot to lose – whatever reason. But just because they can’t/won’t do one particular kind of activism doesn’t mean their activism is worthless.

I would rather have a 100 voices, than just one voice echoed 100 times. But at the same time, I don’t think it’s very useful for those 100 voices to spend all their time bickering with each other about how the others talk. We should certainly criticise when there is a problem, when someone is failing badly and not even remotely helping (and, again, I think one of the main problems is that that HASN‘T been happening) – or even hindering the way forwards. But there’s a difference between criticising them for doing it wrong – and criticising them for not doing it your way.

Another litany of hate

Hate speech against GBLT people is as virulent as it is common. And it’s toxic and dangerous. Our young hear it and are devalued and dehumanised, discouraged and debased. Our oppressors and attackers hear it and are encouraged, emboldened and justified. We hear it and we are wounded, afraid and enraged.

Hate speech is dangerous. Sticks and stones may break our bones – but words will encourage them to be thrown. Words will encourage the authorities not to care when they are thrown. Words will make us hate ourselves, will make us accept a lesser status, will make us self-harm and fall prey to addiction and suicide. Words will strip us of basic rights, of equality. Words will keep us from marrying, words will lose us jobs, will lose us homes. Words will cost us friendships and family and community. Words will make us unsafe, words will make us afraid, words will turn the world against us.

Make no mistake – words hurt us.

Irish Catholics, most particularly 3 Irish Bishops are attacking civil unions. Not marriage you note – civil unions. Because even expressly non-religious unions for gays are such a threat to their religious ideals. They have also spoken of fighting the law in the courts, in a desperate attempt to force their hatred on gay people.

Of course, Irish Christians aren’t the only ones trying to push their homophobia wherever they can. They are outraged that religious organisations can bless  gay unions – if they choose to do so. See, everyone should follow their bigotry and believe in their hatred. They don’t fight for religious freedom – they fight for universal conformity

In a disgusting reversal of our anti-discrimination rules, a Catholic adoption society has won the right to be bigoted against gay people. How is this even considered a charity when it openly discriminates? How can our anti-discrimination laws count as ANYTHING when they can be so easily undermined by religious bigots?

Pastor Wayne Sapp (ah, a religious man. Expect some really nasty hate here) in Florida, confronted with the ZOMG openly gay mayor (the horror, the horror) sprints to the lunatic fringe of hatred. You tube took down the video because of its virulent hatred – which, considering the content is no surprise

In the US, Chai Feldblum, a Lesbian has been appointed as commissioner of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The religious right, such paragons of morality and goodness – have naturally had a proper little hateful temper tantrum over this. Hatred and lies mixed together with lots of poison – typical fare from the religious right

Out Lesbian mayor of Houston, Annise Parker, has passed a wonder range of anti-discrimination ordinances in the city to protect LGBT people from discrimination and persecution. Everyone has a right to be treated with dignity as a human being. Of course, a coalition of clergy from Houstan disagrees. Why are we not surprised?

The Catholic church and its supporters have been fighting fiercely to ensure the saturate the world with their hate speech, maybe to distract from their appalling child abuse scandal? Indeed, Catholic defender Bill Donahue has already tried to blame the child abuse on gays. Not to be out-homophobed by an unofficial hack, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican secretary of state and the “pope’s no.2” has decided that blaming gays is a great idea and has joined Donahue in blaming us for their raping of children. These bigots have no shame

In fact, their blaming of us for their repeated rape of children is so vile that I can almost ignore Italian Bishop Francesco Nolè declaring that gays should not only be denied communion – but don’t deserve funerals either.

This hate matters, make no mistake about that – especially coming from such positions of authority and strength. And just because it comes from the pulpit doesn’t make it acceptable or any less damaging – quite the opposite in fact.